Celestial Messengers
by jesmalestiel
Summary: What if Luna went on the horcrux hunt? And what if she fell in love with Hermione along the way? Prequel to my story "A Trio of Tricksters: Eclipse the Past, Usurp the Future" POC!Hermione Asexual!Harry Platonic Relationships Found Family


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also, geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google.

 **A/N:** Happy holidays! This fic is a oneshot, set in the universe of my longer fic _A Trio of Tricksters: Eclipse the Past, Usurp the Future_ , but you don't have to read that to understand this. All you really need to know is that Luna joined in on the horcrux hunt, and Harry & Ginny were never together because my Harry is asexual and Ginny respects that. They are still good friends, just not in a romantic or sexual relationship.

 _ **Celestial Messengers**_

Hermione was intently studying the sword of Gryffindor, taking down notes with a biro she had conjured into her never-ending diary. Harry and Ron were both taking hot showers – warming and drying charms were nice, but they didn't compare to a nice warm shower after jumping in a freezing pool in December. Honestly Hermione had no clue what either of them were thinking. Not that she wasn't thankful that Ron had saved Harry, but she was still pissed that he left in the first place. Deciding that she wasn't getting any good observations down while she was this riled up, and hearing the shower turn off in the bathroom she assumed Ron had gone into, Hermione tucked her notebook back into her beaded bag and exited the tent.

Luna had taken first watch, and was sitting cross-legged on a nearby rock formation, humming a tune that Hermione didn't recognize at first. Her brain then caught up with the drastic pitch differences and she chuckled.

"Is that Bohemian Rhapsody?" she asked, with a laugh.

"Indeed. My mother was quite fond of Queen. She found a way to enchant CDs and their music players to work with magic. I still have her notes. She was quite brilliant you know." Luna's tone was the same as ever, but this time Hermione noticed a hint of wistfulness, and felt abashed. There was so much that she still didn't know about the girl, despite ostensibly having been her friend for the past year and a half.

"What was she like?" Hermione asked softly, settling down on an adjacent rock.

"Mummy was wonderful. Sometimes she would cry and cry and didn't know why she was sad. But other times she would just laugh, and we would go on picnics and make plimpy soup. She made tarts out of dirigible plums, and she created spells that made stars dance on my ceiling and sing me to sleep." Luna's tone started distant, but began to crack. "She would also stay up for days working on a spell, and then sleep for just as long. She loved daddy and me quite a bit, and she did her best, but she wasn't always there. Neither is – was daddy really." Hermione reached for Luna's hand, alarmed at seeing so much emotion from the other girl. "A part of him was always with her. They walk together now. With this war, I wonder how long it will take until I walk with them." Luna spoke softly, looking down at her and Hermione's intertwined hands.

"Don't say that, Luna. We'll make it through this, I don't – I don't know how, but we will. We have the sword now, we destroyed the locket and we'll destroy the cup, and nothing will have been done in vain." Hermione spoke with desperation, and wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more of their eventual victory. She gripped Luna's hands tighter, turning herself towards the other girl, absentmindedly noting how well their bodies fit together.

"You are my best friend, Hermione Granger." Luna clenched Hermione's hands in turn, running a thumb across her knuckles before kissing them softly. "I will not leave you. My parents have each other, they can wait for me."

Hermione's breath hitched at the contact. Luna's long, dirty blonde hair was glimmering in the moonlight, and her pale skin shone bright against Hermione's own deep brown. She pulled Luna into a proper hug, and they sat together for another four hours in comfortable silence before the new day dawned and Harry exited the tent to relieve Luna of her post.

Hermione offered to stay and cover the shift herself, but Harry waved her off, claiming that having shared Luna's, she also deserved some rest. Suddenly realizing how exhausted she was, Hermione felt Luna's hand tug her into the tent and with a swish of Luna's wand, Hermione found herself in comfortable night clothes.

Luna began to tuck her in, before Hermione spoke, softly, over the sound of Ron's snores. "Harry could have died tonight. I don't – we wouldn't have known, there's nothing we could have done, that stupid boy." Hermione bit back a sob, and Luna hesitated for a but a moment before waving her wand and enlarging the bed just enough so that she could climb in beside Hermione.

"Harry," Luna mused, "is not made of glass. Something rather more flexible I think. Sometimes I perhaps wonder if he isn't just one of those cartoon characters that never stays dead brought to life in our reality." Hermione giggled, and Luna started to pull Hermione's hair into the two braids the older girl normally wore to sleep. "We will all be here when you wake up. In the meantime," Luna picked up her wand from where she had set it down, and with a flick of her wrist, she had conjured curtains around the bed to block out the slowly streaming sunlight as the day dawned, and stars appeared above them. Luna started to hum a lullaby, and Hermione fell softly into sleep.

CM CM CM

It became habit for Hermione and Luna to share a bed together in the tent. Ron and Harry exchanged surprised glances at first, but as the hunt continued to wear them out, it became just another fact of their existence. Hermione and Luna grew closer, and gradually the golden trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione became almost a quartet, as the four stayed up long into the night and shared the experiences, hesitantly at first, before the floodgates really opened. The early tension they had shared with close living quarters loosened. The locket had isolated them and pulled on their fears, and without it, they were able to share what those fears were.

Ron was terrified for his family. He had always resented their accomplishments, but he loved them and would have nightmares that it was his lack of ability that endangered them. He would be glad to come last, as long as his family was whole in front of him. He knew what it was like to be lonely in a crowd, but he would gladly take that as long as the crowd was still there.

Hermione and Harry had lived in the muggle world for most of their lives, and knew all along that they didn't belong. Harry told them of days of isolation in his cupboard, and Hermione spoke softly about the cat that had been her only friend aside from her parents, that had been killed by a car on the corner of her street.

Luna had exactly one friend, in Ginny Weasley, but after her mother's death she had drawn into herself, and the other nine-year-old did not know how to help, and so became more and more distant, until she never came by at all.

The four of them each had their own demons, but together they faced them, in quiet words spoken over notes and theories. Things continued in this way for weeks, until pure chance tore them apart. They had just apparated to a new location in the forest, and one that was in the middle of a battle. Realizing they were outnumbered, Hermione shot a stinging spell at Harry's face, and the four of them were taken, along with Dean Thomas and the goblin Griphook, to Malfoy Manor.

CM CM CM

After helping Harry to bury Dobby, Luna sought out Hermione, who was sobbing as Fleur Weasley tended to her wounds the best she could. After Fleur left, Luna sat on the edge of the bed, where Hermione was still dripping tears, and the older girl grabbed on to her hand like it was a lifeline. Luna slid easily into the bed next to her, sitting against the headboard with Hermione's wild hair in her lap. Luna soothingly ran her hands through Hermione's wild curls, humming softly until Hermione fell into a fitful sleep.

It was about an hour later that Hermione's breath quickened, and she started to talk in her sleep. "We found it, we found it, it's just a copy, just a copy!" Hermione gasped awake and struggled for a moment in Luna's arms, and Luna immediately loosened her grip, though still holding Hermione's arms.

"Shhh, Hermione, you're safe. I'm here, I'm here," Luna whispered into Hermione's ear as she rubbed on Hermione's arms softly. Hermione's heart rate slowed.

"Luna," Hermione gripped the younger girl in turn. "Don't – don't leave me."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Luna pressed a kiss to the top of Hermione's forehead. She began to hum again, and Hermione fell into sleep once more. Gradually Luna fell asleep herself, though she would wake every so often as Hermione did, and every time she would reassure her, and coax the other girl back into slumber.

CM CM CM

After Voldemort fell, Hermione's immediate instinct was to run to Harry, but instead she forced herself to concentrate on rounding up Death Eaters, who were still in shock at the death of their master. Luna, Ron and Ginny gave her similar nods of determination as they each went about stunning every Death Eater in sight. Only after they and Kingsley had made sure each and every one was taken down did they nod towards the older man and ran towards their friend. After a few minutes they finally pushed their way through the crowds to Harry.

"Everyone MOVE!" Ginny shouted, and the mass of people parted to reveal an overwhelmed Harry. Hermione and Luna pulled him to them as Ron and Ginny berated everyone in overlapping yells that rivalled those of their mother, who was currently holding George as he cried over the cost to the Light's victory in the form of his twin.

The three friends escaped to Gryffindor tower, where they sat, curled up together on an enlarged version of Harry's four poster bed.

"We won."

"But at what cost?"

CM CM CM

The '8th years' had their own dormitories, and their own rooms. Most of them were war heroes, or at least veterans, and there was no space for them with those for which it was their actual 7th year anyway. One of those 7th years was Luna Lovegood, who, despite not having been there for her sixth year of Hogwarts schooling, was accepted as a 7th year all the same. Not all of her time in the tent was spent bonding or destroying horcruxes after all – she had spent a significant amount of time with the numerous school books that were assembled in Hermione's beaded bag.

The two of them had spent a great deal of time together over the summer, living with Harry in Grimmauld Place. Ginny and Ron were frequent visitors, but for the most part they stayed at the Burrow, and what family they had left. The absence of Fred was an open and gaping wound.

Harry and Hermione had frequent nightmares, and more often than not, the three of them would end up piled together in the same bed, in what used to be Sirius's room. Luna rarely had bad dreams of her own, but when she did Hermione and Harry were both there to comfort her. Harry became the brother she never had, or knew she needed, and meanwhile Hermione became something a little more than she could describe.

It was therefore unsurprising that when September 1st rolled around, Luna gave up all pretense that she would be sleeping anywhere that was not at Hermione's side. The two of them had yet to define what they truly were to one another, not needing or wanting a label, and at any rate, Harry was there more nights than not, though that tidbit was unknown to most as he used the invisibility cloak to enter Hermione's room on the nights he chose to do so. The three of them needed one another, in a way that many wouldn't understand.

Three lonely children, who never truly knew what it was to belong to a family, clung to each other. Though both girls considered Harry their brother, and he considered them to be his sisters, the relationship between the two women – for war had forced them into the adulthood they would have otherwise eased in to – was decidedly less platonic.

One night in November, a night in which Harry was unusually absent, Luna projected the stars her mother had taught her on the ceiling. This itself was not unusual, but that night was one of the rare ones in that Hermione was sleeping soundly, when a thrashing Luna woke her up, shouting her name Hermione awoke sleepily, not recognizing the disturbance at first, before pulling Luna into an embrace, running her fingers through Luna's soft hair, murmuring in her ear. "I've got you, shh love, it's okay."

"Hermione!" Luna grasped the other girl tightly, crying "you're okay… you're here… you're safe… you're…"

"I'm not going anywhere, Luna. I told you," Hermione smiled, pushing a loose hair behind Luna's ear.

"I was so scared that day. Hearing you scream, it was the worst terror of that awful place. I thought I had lost you."

"You'll never lose me, Luna. I'm afraid you're quite stuck with me. I love you too much," Hermione smiled, placing a kiss on Luna's forehead.

"I love you too, Hermione."

The way she said those five words made Hermione's heart twitch. Her heart rate eventually slowed, and she was on the cusp of sleep once again, when Luna's quiet question broke through her exhaustion.

"May I kiss you?"

Hermione's body responded before her brain caught up and at that moment, Hermione realized two things. One, she not only loved Luna, but was _in_ love with Luna and two, kissing Luna had just kicked cuddling, reading, and doing arithmancy down a notch on the 'favorite activities' scale by taking the top spot.

"I'll take that as a yes," Luna laughed when they finally pulled apart.

"As you wish."

CM CM CM

The next day was a Saturday, and when Luna and Hermione neglected going to any part of the continuous weekend brunch, Harry took it upon himself to bring them both an assortment of jams and toast from the kitchens. He didn't so much as bat an eye when Hermione's reaching for a slice of whole wheat and raspberry jam exposed her dark breasts, or when Luna's stretching exposed the same in shades of pink. Merlin knew they had seen enough of each other in the tent that it wouldn't have bothered him even if he were interested in any sort of sexual intimacy. As far as he was concerned, breasts were for feeding babies, or whatever their owners wanted them to be for.

"Does this mean you want me to stop sleeping with you?" He asked as he poured them all tea, using the portable hot water kettle Hermione had constructed using her superior runes and arithmancy skills.

"Up to you, really," Hermione said around her toast.

"Yeah, I mean we might have sex sometimes, but the bed is big enough that you only really have to watch if you feel like it," Luna continued idly, spreading orange marmalade in the shape of what might have passed for a cat. Hermione snorted.

"I don't, particularly, but it's nice of you to offer." Harry handed each of them their mugs, and the trio gave a cheer to friendship, in all its forms.

 **A/N:** Happy New Year!

 **Fic Recommendation:** _Finding the Center_ by wasureneba (AO3) because it directly inspired this one, even though all they really have in common is the pairing and the time frame. Summary: "The year that Voldemort was defeated, Hermione discovers a few things about herself. One of them is that she likes Luna Lovegood."


End file.
